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Over the holidays, I was perusing through Facebook while sitting by the fire. I belong to a Facebook group devoted strictly to Road America, where readers post photos from present-day, as well as the past; and written posts about their personal memories of the track that has been operating since 1955. Unlike other groups, this is a very civilized, well-mannered and knowledgeable group.

Like any other venue that age, there have been multiple changes to the appearance and infrastructure of the facility over the years. I came across a post that featured this photo of the Road America Pagoda that sat overlooking the south end of the pits (pit-out), before it was intentionally burned, then razed in early 1990.

I was going through the comments and saw where one person simply said “It was so much better back then”. Seeing as how this is one of my favorite tracks for so many reasons, I responded with this: “I’m not being snarky, just curious – what was so much better then? I’ve been going every year for the past ten years and love it there. What was better then?”

A few people chimed in agreeing with me, while others came up with things like there used to be more trees, or they have put up too many safety fences. One said they should have kept the Pagoda. From what I understand, the Pagoda was kept around too long and had fallen into a state of disrepair.

They really gave no concrete reason why 1975 was so much better than 2025 at Road America. That set me to thinking how racing fans love to hearken back to the good old days, or the golden years.

All sports fans look back at whenever they discovered a certain sport, as the greatest time-period for that sport. They like to think that things were so much better back then. I first started paying attention to football in the mid-to-late 60s. My first football heroes were Roman Gabriel, and Bart Starr. You can imagine how excited I was to get to see Starr up-close and in-person in 2012, when he was the Grand Marshal for the IndyCar race at Barber Motorsports Park.

It was the 1970s when I became all-consumed with football. I still like to think that Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett, Terry Bradshaw and Lynn Swann were the greatest players to ever suit up in the NFL. When I think about it logically, I realize there were so many great players that were just as good or even much better that cane along decades later. But that time seemed magic to me, because I was so enthralled and fascinated with football back in the 70s.

Of all the sports across the spectrum, I think racing fans may be the most guilty of recalling the golden years, as whenever they started following their respective sport. The 1979 Daytona 500 took place on a weekend much like this past weekend – when much of the country was snowbound. With few viewing options in those days, it was fateful that the Daytona 500 was being broadcast live for the very first time. Millions who had never seen a NASCAR race tuned in.

They were treated by a fistfight on the backstretch immediately after the race (won by Richard Petty), between the Allison brothers and Cale Yarborough. To many, this was the beginning of their NASCAR fandom. That is why so many look at the late 70s and early 80s as the golden age of NASCAR. Whether it was or wasn’t – that is their perception and no one will convince them otherwise.

I am guilty of the same thought process. I was first exposed to IndyCar racing through my older brothers, when my father took them to the 1964 Indianapolis 500. With the stories they told and the programs and souvenirs they brought back, I became enthralled with the sport. The next year, my mother and I were included in the trip. From the moment I first laid eyes on the track, the cars and the entire spectacle – I knew I was hooked, even though I was only six years-old.

From that first visit in 1965, through the mid-70s, I ate and breathed the Indianapolis 500. Consequently, I still look at the late 60s and early 70s as the golden age of IndyCar. Being a generation older and born in 1926, my father tended to think of the era of Wilbur Shaw and Mauri Rose as the golden age. Why? Because that was the time when he first became aware of the Indianapolis 500.

In my own life, I sort of view IndyCar as having two golden ages – simply due to getting reintroduced to the sport I had loved once before.

I started college in the fall of 1976. Being five hours from home, I no longer had access to any of my collection of programs and newspapers collected over the past decade or so. Tennessee was on the quarter system back then, so we didn’t get out of school for the summer until mid-June. I remember sitting in my dorm room over Memorial Day weekend, listening to the entire 1977 500, when AJ Foyt won his fourth, but that was the last time I listened to the radio broadcast in its entirety.

Beginning in 1978, I would just catch the delayed TV broadcast on ABC not knowing who had won. There was no social media for spoilers, and none of my friends paid attention to it. So it was easy to go into each delayed broadcast blindly. After graduating college and throughout the 80s, I found myself getting more and more detached from IndyCar. My last 500 to attend in person was in 1972, when Mark Donohue won.

By the mid-80s, most of the drivers I grew up with had retired or been fatally injured in racing. There were still enough familiar names like Foyt, Andretti, Unser, Rutherford and Johncock, to keep me watching once a year. Even some second-generation drivers were arriving on the scene. But there were names like Mears, Rahal, Sullivan and Sneva that were the big names of the time, that I had little knowledge about.

In 1990, I was married and a new father of two. I had recently moved back to my hometown of Jackson, TN, less than five miles from the house I grew up in. My father came out and we watched the 1990 race in its entirety. My father was intrigued that there still a few names he was familiar with, but he didn’t like it that the long-haired guy with the funny name (Arie Luyendyk) had won.

For whatever reason, that race stoked a dormant fire in my passion for IndyCar. I began to watch other races throughout that season. When the 1991 race aired, I sat there with my VCR remote and paused the recording at each commercial. I recorded it on the SP speed, which meant I had to use two cassettes, but the picture would be the highest quality. Remember those days?

I’ll bet I watched that race at least five times over the next two weeks, In mid-June of that summer, my wife (at the time) and I drove to Chicago to visit with friends. On the way back, I suggested that we stop by the track. I had not set foot on the grounds in almost twenty years, and I wanted to see it again. We went through the museum for the first time ever, and took the track tour. The pit wall still had the driver’s name painted on them (and yes, they were painted in those days).

It was a life-changing visit. The bug bit me. On the way home, we were already talking about trying to attend the 1992 race. We didn’t have a lot of money them , but I could feel the overwhelming urge to attend, no matter what. The following February, I called a ticket broker and overpaid for excellent seats in the Tower Terrace, north of Gasoline Alley but south of the Yard of Bricks. My wife exploded when I told her how much I paid, but I convinced her this was a one-time event. As it turned out, it was my first 500 since 1972, but it would become an annual thing for decades – and long after she was out of the picture.

I began recording every race that season and keeping them to re-watch the following week. Then I found myself watching those tapes in the offseason. From mid-1991, up until The Split in 1996, I recorded and kept every race on video – a collection I still have to this very day.

I tell that story that is already familiar to some, to demonstrate how a single person can actually view two eras as a golden age. I consider the 60s & 70s as a golden age, when names like Andretti, Foyt, Unser, Rutherford and Johncock were all in their prime. But I also look at the early to mid-90s as a second golden age. A few of those names were still around,. But they were on their way out. They were replaced by Michael Andretti, Al Unser, Jr, Mears, Rahal, Fittipaldi, Tracy, Luyendyk and others.

Recently, I have seen comments on social media where younger fans predict that the age of Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Will Power, Josef Newgarden and Helio Castroneves will someday be referred to as IndyCar’s golden age. When I first read that, I chuckled. But the names I grew up with are mythical to today’s generations of fans. These are the names they know and are the ones they consider iconic. Who am I to argue with them?

Just like the guy who yearned for the Road America of 1975. I can’t relate to that. Although I watched races there on television for years, my point of reference there begins in 2016. To me, these times we are in currently are the golden years at Road America. You will have a difficult time convincing me otherwise.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on January 13, 2025 at 4:04 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.